International users are already used to Google.com redirecting to their local page but this week is the first time that the automatic geographical placement has been applied to the United Kingdom. The automatic redirect can be removed by clicking on the "Go to Google.com" link on the front page. This sets a cookie on your computer to record the fact that you prefer to search the main site. Similarly, on the search engine's international page there is now a "Go to Google UK" link which will set and save your British search preference.
The change does not affect commercial search campaigns in Google's AdWords as geographical targeting is well established there and the AdWords themselves are served independently of the search results (you'll get English AdWords even if you search Google.fr).
Why would Google do this? The search engine is promoting Froogle UK on the .co.uk front page again. With the shopping search engine's launch in the UK it's now more important for Google to match products and British merchants with British buyers.
